ORCHARDS. 183 



Apples for distant or foreign markets should be placed in 

 new, tight flour barrels as soon as gathered from the tree — 

 the finer sorts may be wrapt in tissue paper. The barrels 

 should be gently shaken while filling, and the head gently 

 and closely pressed in ; lined and nailed with 3-penny nails. 

 (For further directions as to packing, see Mr. D. H. 

 London's valuable communication. These barrels are then 

 placed in a cool shady exposure, under a shed open 

 to the air, or on the north side of a building, protected by 

 a covering of boards. It is usual for them to remain here 

 for a vieok or two, or until there is danger of freezing, when 

 they are carefully removed to the cellar or fruitery. 



Note. — In some large, airy, packing houses, at the foot of the Blue 

 Ridge in Virginia, the barrels are placed on tiers on their sides, as they 

 are filled from the heaps or orchards. The temperature during cold 

 spells is regulated by the thermometer, stoves being used so as to secure 

 a temperature not exceeding 32 degrees. In this way, the fruit is always 

 ready for shipping, and is taken from the houses in cold weather to Rail 

 Roads for immediate transportation. 



"instructions for gathering, barreling, 



SHIPPING, &c. 



The following very important, valuable and practicable 

 directions for gathering, barreling, and shipping apples, are 

 from a New York Commission Merchant, (No. 63, Broadway) 

 formerly a resident of Richmond, Va. A part of the busi- 

 ness of his house is to ship "large quantities of fruit to 

 England and European countries. 



No. 63 Broadway, New York, Sept. 1, 1870. 



As the season is near in which your fruit growers must 

 gather and prepare their pippins and ladies' apples for mar- 

 ket, and deeming the matter of so much importance, I beg 

 leave to bring to their attention the following instructions 

 "^vhich I have gained by several seasons of experience in the 

 sale and handling of Albemarle Pippins and Ladies' apples. 



Fh'st — Gather the pippins before they are fully ripe, by 

 picking the fruit and carefully handling it and leaving it in 

 an open house till it sweats and dries off. On Southern ex- 



